Marketing is a critical activity for any business that is not in a monopoly supply position or operating in a marketing where demand overwhelms the ability to supply. But how can you measure marketing and know if it is working?
“Half the money I spend on advertising is wasted. The trouble is I don’t know which half” is a famous quote from John Wanamaker, a department store entrepreneur in the late 1800s and early 1900s.
One hundred years later, it’s still a sentiment that many business owners and senior managers can relate to.
Search marketing – making sure your business is found when a customer or prospective customer is looking for suppliers.
Outreach marketing – reaching out to target potential customers to encourage them to take action to contact you before they begin searching more generally.
Today I want to refer to a different two types of marketing activities:
Brand building – promotional activities to increase the awareness of a brand name and (hopefully) the brand positioning, i.e. what the brand stands for and means.
Direct response marketing – actions taken to encourage a customer to make contact with you immediately.
There is some crossover since direct response advertising can also help to build brand awareness depending on the extent to which the business name and any slogan is emphasised in the promotions. [continue reading…]
I teach my clients that there are two main types of marketing – search marketing and outreach marketing.
What Is Search Marketing?
Search Marketing is doing everything necessary to be found when your potential customers begin their search for information about their problems, together with possible solutions in the form of products and services.
It is sometimes called inbound marketing because you are trying to pull customers into your business.
The main method of search marketing in the 2010s is to be found on the first page of Google or the other search engines through a combination of being found in the organic search results based on the ranking algorithm or by paying to be on the page through pay per click schemes like Google Adwords.
Another popular way that your customers will find out about your business is by asking their family and friends for recommendations. This also includes social media activities along the lines of “Does anyone know of a good small business accountant in Birmingham?”
The review is special because it’s done by Marcella Allison and special guest David Deutsch. It’s one of a series of book review videos from AWAI focused on highly acclaimed copywriting books.
I should warn you, it goes into the ideas into the book quite deeply and it’s 75 minutes long so get yourself a drink and press play…
One of my favourite business gurus, Jay Abraham contrasts tunnel vision with funnel vision as different approaches to finding ways to improve the business.
Tunnel Vision versus Funnel Vision
Tunnel vision is the process of focusing entirely on what’s going on in your profession, trade or industry. You watch your competitors closely together and when you see something that looks a good idea, you copy it.
You should also keep an eye on best practices from your sector in the rest of the country or world, depending on how widely you compete. Many local businesses don’t bother to look at what companies are doing in other big cities and, as a result, they miss out on ideas that they could adapt.
Funnel vision is the process of taking a wider perspective on business ideas and best practices. You keep your eyes open and watch how other types of businesses deal with you, your family and friends. You also keep an eye on the media to widen your scope further. If you see a good idea that comes from outside your industry that is helping to achieve an objective you want to meet, you ask yourself how you can borrow or adapt the idea. [continue reading…]
The Three Ways To Grow A Business Model is one of the most useful ways for thinking through the options you have to increase the sales value of your business.
It has been made famous by American marketing legend Jay Abraham although I’m not sure he can claim to have invented it as it arises from the arithmetic within a business.
The Three Ways To Grow A Business
The three ways to grow a business are:
Increase the number of customers who buy. .
Increase the average sales transaction value. .
Increase the number of times a customer buys.
Often when people think about growing the top line, the automatic focus is targeted towards winning more customers (method 1) and little attention is given to getting more sales from the existing customers in terms of selling more and more often. [continue reading…]
David Ogilvy is a legendary advertising man, one of the original “mad men”. he’s the author of the books Ogilvy On Advertising and Confessions of an Advertising Man.
This 4 minute video, produced by Adweek includes some of the classic quotes from Ogilvy. A highly recommended way to spend a few minutes.
“The 24 Hour Marketing Miracle: The FIRST Marketing Book EVER to Be Backed Up By a 500% Money Back Guarantee“.
In my review at Amazon.co.uk, I gave the book a FIVE STARS rating. I don;t give the five stars away easily and this means that I think it is EXCELLENT.
Here is my review.
A direct response marketing book so good you don’t want your competitors to read it
This book isn’t for everybody. The writing style is quite abrasive at the start and the author doesn’t pull any punches over what he thinks is right or wrong.
The book looks at direct response marketing and copywriting. While you may not want to do it yourself, I believe business owners need to know and understand the process. [continue reading…]
“The Adweek Copywriting Handbook: The Ultimate Guide to Writing Powerful Advertising and Marketing Copy from One of America’s Top Copywriters“.
I my review at Amazon.co.uk, I gave this book a rating of FIVE STARS. This means I think it is excellent.
Here is my book review.
A true marketing classic and packed with charm
Some copywriters work for clients and charge a fixed fee. Others charge a fee and ask for a percentage of the revenue generated on top so they gain financially if the item sells well. Neither of these groups of writers lose out if the copy flops all together. [continue reading…]
“Money-Making Secrets of Marketing Genius Jay Abraham and Other Marketing Wizards A No-Nonsense Guide to Great Wealth and Personal Fortune“
although it is much better known as the Mr X Book.
In my review at Amazon.co.uk, I gave the book a FIVE STARS rating. This means that I consider it to be excellent.
Here is my book review.
A legendary book about marketing. It’s old but much of it is still extremely relevant.
Generally this book is better known as the Mr X book.
The origins are controversial. The story told is that one of Abraham’s best clients and most diligent students spotted an opportunity of sharing the Abraham money-making secrets with small businesses who couldn’t afford the $5,000 to $25,000 courses. He poured over his extensive course notes and eventually produced the book, started to offer it to the public and inevitably there was a big dispute with Abraham who recovered his intellectual property. [continue reading…]
The full title of this book by Charlie Hutton is ”
The Business Owners Guide To Making Out Like A Bandit: How To Get Even The Most Greedy… Penny Pinching… Money Hoarding Customers Spending Money Like They Used To!“.
In my review at Amazon.co.uk, I gave this book a rating of FIVE STARS. This means I consider it to be excellent.
Here is my book review.
Excellent summary of Jay Abraham style profit improvement techniques
This will teach you the importance of back-end marketing. That’s selling more to existing customers through upsells and cross-sells as well as reaching out to new customers through different means. [continue reading…]
I was a consultant, small business coach and advisor based in Birmingham, with over 35 years business experience, including more than 20 years as self employed.
My main business qualifications are:
– Chartered Accountant
– MBA
– Certified Guerilla Marketing Coach
My main interests are in helping business owners who are stuck get unstuck by thinking more clearly about their issues and possible solutions.
I no longer provide professional business coaching but I will be sharing more ideas on my blog and will continue my popular business book reviews.
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